Airbus hopes to secure China’s interest in A380 superjumbos this week, by proposing a deal that would revive demand for the world’s largest passenger jet, whose future is in jeopardy, and give a much-needed boost to protracted talks related to the double-decker jet with Dubai’s flag carrier Emirates.
“Emirates would like to see Airbus selling A380s anywhere, so if an A380 deal is done in China or elsewhere, Emirates will be happy and Airbus will be happy,” said a person familiar with the matter.
French president Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing on a trade mission on Monday, accompanied by 50 company executives including officials from the European plane manufacturer, among them its outgoing chief operating officer, Fabrice Brégier.
Emirates is the largest operator of A380s globally and has been pressing Airbus to sell more of the aircraft to ensure future production of the jet. The airline was expected to sign a preliminary order at the Dubai Air Show in November for as many as 36 new A380s, however the deal never materialised and the airline opted for 40 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner jets. This week Toulouse-based Airbus is said to be offering China a production role on the A380 if Chinese airlines order the jet, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Such an agreement could throw the plane manufacturer a lifeline and provide leverage in its negotiations with buyers. Airbus declined to comment when contacted by The National.
China is forecast to displace the US as the world’s largest aviation market by 2022. It is expected to add 921 million new passengers to total 1.5 billion passengers by 2036, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). An agreement with China would be the first time Airbus has offered an industrial partnership on its A380 programme, and comes as the aircraft’s future hangs in doubt with no new orders for the jet or a secondary market for aircraft that have been retired or set to.
Emirates has 100 A380s in operation, with 42 more on order. It has been pressing Airbus to commit to the future of the double-decker aircraft by guaranteeing a 10-year production line.
Following the Dubai Air Show, Emirates chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told The National discussions were still ongoing. However, an order from China would relieve pressure on Airbus, which has not sold the jet in more than two years.
Emirates declined to comment on talks with China, but the airline's president Tim Clark told The National last July he wished Airbus would market the plane more aggressively across the world. "Our recommendation to them most strongly is to try and get out and sell it to carriers who ordinarily would have been interested in something like this," he said.
___________
Read more:
Airbus eyes sale of at least 100 jets to China
Exclusive: Emirates still in discussions with Airbus on buying 'flying palace', Sheikh Ahmed says
In boon to Boeing, Emirates orders 40 Dreamliners worth $15.1 billion
Emirates keeps options open as air travel industry tackles change
___________
Industry insiders said any A380 order would be good news for Airbus, and for Emirates as a potential customer of a new order.
“No airline wants the responsibility of being the only one ‘propping up’ an aircraft production programme, but another operator order, for example in China, could be sizeable enough for Airbus to prove to Emirates that the A380 is here to stay,” said aviation analyst Alex Macheras.
“Airbus is actively looking for new A380 customers, with many sales campaigns targeting mass-market areas such as China," he added. "With nothing resulting from Emirates, Airbus’ approach must continue to be worldwide, with the aim of striking a deal with less commitment to the 10-year promise Emirates would like.”
However, Richard Aboulafia, vice-president, analysis at Teal Group, described the industrial partnership offer as “bizarre” and said it would not happen.
“As far as air market development goes, China is the anti-Dubai. The country is trying to directly link its many large cities to the outside world, and doesn’t want colossal hub-and-spoke networks out of Beijing or Shanghai. The A350 is a great plane for this, not the A380,” he said.
Airbus is reportedly hoping to clinch a deal to sell 100 other aircraft – a mix of single and twin aisle planes – to China during the visit. It is also proposing to increase production at its Tianjin final assembly line, where it produces four A320 single-aisle aircraft a month.
“This move to entice China may be geared more towards the A330 completion centre there and the A320 line,” said Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research. “Chinese airlines have never sought the A380 and are unlikely to start buying the ageing machine now.”
Disappointment over a failed deal with Emirates is unlikely to have been the main driver of the offer to China, he added. “Airbus has long since sought to push the A380 in China, despite airline reluctance to buy it.”
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Race card
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-2 Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 2,200m
6.30pm: Liwa Oaisi Group 2 (PA) Dh300,000 1,400m
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
The National selections: 5pm: Flit Al Maury, 5.30pm: Sadah, 6pm: RB Seqondtonone, 6.30pm: RB Money To Burn, 7pm: SS Jalmood, 7.30pm: Dalaalaat
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
Persuasion
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLE
Price, base / as tested Dh274,000 (estimate)
Engine 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder
Gearbox Nine-speed automatic
Power 245hp @ 4,200rpm
Torque 500Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Company%20Profile
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Secret Nation: The Hidden Armenians of Turkey
Avedis Hadjian, (IB Tauris)
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
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Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
If you go:
The flights: Etihad, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin all fly from the UAE to London from Dh2,700 return, including taxes
The tours: The Tour for Muggles usually runs several times a day, lasts about two-and-a-half hours and costs £14 (Dh67)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on now at the Palace Theatre. Tickets need booking significantly in advance
Entrance to the Harry Potter exhibition at the House of MinaLima is free
The hotel: The grand, 1909-built Strand Palace Hotel is in a handy location near the Theatre District and several of the key Harry Potter filming and inspiration sites. The family rooms are spacious, with sofa beds that can accommodate children, and wooden shutters that keep out the light at night. Rooms cost from £170 (Dh808).
